Liberty Bell on MP3

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I don’t have the video camera option available.

Here is my first attempt with the Monty Python theme tune in MP3 format.

Liberty Bell in MP3 format

I used a Samsung USB Meteor Studio microphone connected to a Lenovo Ideapad A10.
I used ‘USB Audio Recorder Pro’ to record the sound in Wave format, and
Audacity 2.1.1 (free software) to convert the Wave file to the more compact MP3 format.

[Anonymous]

Wow – that’s quite a challenging piece to play timing wise 6/8 tempo etc.. once you get in the swing of it you have to keep going, one mistake with the timing and its a nightmare to catchup. It’s similar to playing yakity yak.

Well played, Sax sounds good, notes in tune, its a long piece to play, your embouchure sounds a wee bit tired towards the end (but thats not a serious problem, i get that after practing the same piece for half an hour)

Great – thanks for sharing, look forward to hearing more!

[Anonymous]

woa – just looked on the samsung website

Meteor Mic is a unique, all-in-one solution that lets you make great recordings on your computer, so you always make an impact.

WARNING: This product contains DEHP, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm.

scary?

[Anonymous]

Thanks James, one problem I have is knowing just when to breath. You can hear I’m quite breathless towards the end.

Don’t worry about the mic, I promise I won’t put it in my mouth like the mercury amalgam fillings I now how a problem with.

Funny how they’re considered safe for teeth, but you’ll be prosecuted by the authorities if you throw one in a lake!!!

[Anonymous]

cool – where to take a breath is very complex area.

Hint JOHNNY – could be worth a video demo?

There are some basic rules for taking a breath. But each song is different and the rules get bent.

Some of the grade 3 songs i recently covered, i had to ask the pro to mark on the sheet where to take a breath, as the normal rules didn’t help. Different phrasing/starting on the upbeat etc.. its not a beginners area of knowledge.

Because of my age 57, just playing one song can leave me winded, the pro gives me a few seconds before replaying – this is where you have to keep fit physically!!

If i play for long hours my sound can start wavering, or my lips turn to jelly. If i get a bad case of nerves i can have a slight uncontrolabke tremor in my breathing unlike a jaw vibrato.

If you put the sax down and go through the sheet, use a metronome, and physically blow out air for the time of each note, and take in air at the place you need to, its even quite hard to do that properly, mainly because you’ve got no sax in front to fight – hence the term this sax has more resistance than that sax…

[Anonymous]

James you surprise me, I thought you were a younger chap. I’m 54 and started playing my Alto only three months after you.
I’ve started swimming at the gym pool to help me build some stamina and whilst playing the sax I’ve adopted a practice of keeping my lower lip on the reed and lifting my upper lip to quickly suck in some air. It’s early days and I suppose knowing when and how to breath will come with experience and hours spent practicing (I hope).

I had a look at DEHP and it is found in surprisingly many plastic products around the home. The time I spend recording is so little I don’t think the exposure will have any effect on me % wise, compared to the pollution from the local power station, steel and chemical factories situated around us, cough, cough!

Better we concentrate on getting our sax skills up to standard 😉 Cheers

[Anonymous]

come on guys – in the spirit of getting new people to upload, and they are taking time out to share their uploads – to encourage more people to upload, we need existing people to comment on their uploads – otherwise new people will become discouraged and move away from this site!!!!

[john]

Jeffrey, very nice stuff there. as JB mentioned about getting tired …. this can improve as you develop your embouchure with more sessions of playing long tones… softly and very loud. when you go high and the notes get thin just push more air through to improve this. yes you will get louder but don’t worry, as you hear yourself doing this you will start to keep the air strong while at the same time hold back the volume a bit. this sounds tricky at first and it is, but once that control is developed a major hurdle is crossed and an obvious improvement in tone will be apparent.

[Anonymous]

Hi Johnny

Thank you for the feedback, it is much appreciated.
My breathing is a definite problem but my Tenor is helping me improve my lung strength and capacity.
I notice a difference with my Alto sound, after playing a Tenor practice session.

May I suggest an MP3 thread for uploads for two reasons.
I’m using my own website and the size of a video is roughly 10x that of an MP3 file.
There is also another advantage in that one also hears much more precisely, when just focussing on the sound.

[john]

the best thing is to use a video site such as youtube, vimeo etc to store your videos and they will embed on here.

[Author]

Posts